“Are you crazy, Cat?”

Dr. Thomas Gregory pulled his girlfriend, Catherine Livingston, to the side where they could speak with a little privacy. The scowl on his face was severe, and she knew he was angry.

“What? They need help, and I’m already inside and have seen things.” Her eyes bounced between his, begging for his understanding and support. “Thomas, this is important.”

“I thought we were important. The only way for you to get this information is to work even later. Hell, on the best of days you don’t leave the bank before I have to be at the hospital. How are we supposed to make this work?” He threw his hands up in frustration.

“It won’t be forever. I’ll only stay late on the nights you work and then I’ll meet you on your dinner break.” She laid her hand on his arm as her chin quivered. “We’ll figure it out, I promise.”

“Whatever.” He turned and stomped toward his car.

Cat watched him walk away with tears rolling down her face. Someone is using my bank for illegal operations, she thought. How can I not help? How can he not understand? What am I going to do?

As she brought her hand to her mouth to conceal her sob, a gentle hand squeezed her shoulder. “Cat?”

She hastily wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Yeah?” Plastering a fake smile on her face she turned.

“I don’t want this to cause issues between you and Thomas. It’s taken y’all a long time to work your shit out, and you don’t have to do this. We’ll find another way,” Evan Riverton, the chief of police, said.

Cat gave a sarcastic chuckle. “There were already issues, Evan.” She buried her face in his chest and cried.

He rubbed her back trying to calm her. “Come on, I’ll ask Nathan to take you home. We can talk when I get back from my honeymoon. Ginger and I are only going to be gone a few days because she wants to see her old doctor in North Carolina once more. Her appointment is Monday, but we’ll be back Thursday afternoon. Can you hang on ‘til then?”

Cat nodded. “Yeah. He doesn’t go back to work until Tuesday. Maybe he’ll be calmed down enough to talk tomorrow.” She allowed Evan to guide her toward Ginger and Nathan who were still on the dance floor.

Nathan Cox, the new assistant chief of police, was dancing with Ginger. The music stopped, and Nathan turned toward them. “Why don’t I take you home, Cat?”

“Thanks, man. I was going to ask,” Evan said. “Thomas got pissed when we requested Cat’s help.”

“No problem.” Nathan pointed between Evan and Ginger. “How long will you be gone?”

“We’ll be back Thursday afternoon,” Evan said. “I’ll call you when we get back to the ranch.”

“Cat, are you okay?” Ginger’s brows furrowed with concern.

Cat nodded. “Yeah, it’s just that our schedules have been crazy and we haven’t seen each other much. I thought he was staying at my place tonight since he doesn’t have to work tomorrow.” She shrugged. “I guess I was wrong.”

Ginger hugged her. “You’re both ambitious with your jobs and just need time to get a routine. You’ll figure it out.”

“Maybe,” she sighed.

A friendly smile stretched Nathan’s lips. “Come on, Cat. Let’s get you home.”